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nGendr – The Return

We’ve been away for a bit, haven’t we? It turns out life can get a little busy, and the perils of running a tiny operation based on the goodwill of a handful of volunteers means that sometimes things fall by the wayside for a while.

A lot has happened since we’ve been otherwise engaged, and not just in the sphere of trans people and the experiences, passions and opinions that we inhabit. You could say the seeming collapse of justice, rights and possibly reason altogether makes some of our Friday Playlist articles look a bit frivolous now, however it is in fact that spirit that has driven us to restart our work.

The last 12-18 months have been truly abysmal for transgender people in the United Kingdom. It’s been a constant, demoralising torrent of hatred, lies and, more distressingly, total apathy from those in positions to do anything about it. Those who would seek to deny us our safety, our truth and our lives, have had an unchallenged platform to spread unfettered nonsense about who we are and what we want. There doesn’t seem to be anywhere for regular ol’ trans people like us to get their truth out.

What we need in this moment is exactly this. We need to build a platform for trans people to tell their stories and share their loves, thoughts, worries and fears. We need to be able to give the public a three dimensional image of what we are actually like, so that they know we are not, in fact, six headed millennial goblins made of avocado who are choosing to invade everyone else’s private spaces with comprehensive demands including the immediate surrender of all children for regendering. We’re not actually like that.

So here we are. Back for 2019, and ready to tell positive tales of how we’ve successfully managed to participate in society – which we continue to do whether or not it always feels like a meritorious endeavour. To the best of my knowledge none of us have actually erased anyone despite our best efforts to comply with GDPR. Some of the reasons we went away are precisely why we’re back. It is incredibly tiring to have to answer constant insinuations about the nature of trans people. We are not a danger to children. We are not a danger to women. We are people like any other. Shout it from the rooftops, damn it – we are people worthy of respect, worthy of love, and worthy of having our opinions listened to. Those who seek to besmirch us in the national press, and to stigmatise us on social media, can’t be allowed to keep doing this unchallenged, and we’re determined to do our bit to make sure of it.

We’re lucky enough to have assembled a small team to get things going again, but we’d also love to hear your perspective. So if you’re interested, have a read of our guiding principles and get in touch!

About The Author

Natalie is a transgender woman from the Southeast UK. She's a founding member of nGendr and regularly contributes articles and vlogs, particularly on the subject of trans people in sport (as a keen footballer and runner).